Crespi, Camilla T. 1942–

views updated

Crespi, Camilla T. 1942–

(Trella Crespi, Camilla Trinchieri)

PERSONAL:

Born 1942, in Prague, Czechoslovakia; dual American and Italian citizenship, became U.S. citizen, 1997. Education: Graduate of Barnard College; Columbia University, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES:

E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Worked in the Italian film industry; sold pasta, worked as a translator and at an advertising firm, all in New York, NY.

WRITINGS:

(As Camilla Trinchieri) The Price of Silence (crime novel), Soho Press (New York, NY), 2007.

"SIMONA GRIFFO" MYSTERY SERIES

(As Trella Crespi) The Trouble with a Small Raise, Zebra (New York, NY), 1991.

(As Trella Crespi) The Trouble with Moonlighting, Zebra (New York, NY), 1991.

(As Trella Crespi) The Trouble with Too Much Sun, Zebra (New York, NY), 1992.

The Trouble with Thin Ice, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1993.

The Trouble with Going Home, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1995.

The Trouble with a Bad Fit: A Novel of Food, Fashion, and Mystery, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.

The Trouble with a Hot Summer, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

SIDELIGHTS:

Camilla T. Crespi has written under several versions of her name, including, most recently, her birth name, Camilla Trinchieri. She penned the first three books of her "Simona Griffo" mystery series as Trella Crespi, then changed to the name by which she is most recognized. Crespi is the daughter of an Italian father and American mother. She worked in the Italian film industry as a dubber with many well-known Italian actors and producers. She came to New York in 1980 and wrote her first book as fictional revenge on the boss who wouldn't give her a raise. The Trouble with a Small Raise was the first in her series and marked the beginning of her career as an author.

The Trouble with Thin Ice is the fourth book in the series. Simona Griffo, an Italian expatriate, lives in Greenwich Village, works in advertising, and is in a relationship with New York homicide detective Stan Greenhouse, who is the father of fourteen-year-old Willy. She is also a pasta lover, perhaps drawn from her creator's own experiences selling pasta in the Village when she first came to New York. In this story the couple attends the wedding of friends, but the happy occasion is soon overshadowed by the murder of a widow who had announced that she was selling her Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home to the interracial couple.

The Trouble with Going Home finds Simona back in Rome with her mother who becomes involved when Tamar, the American student of art teacher Mirella Monti, is stabbed. Simona steps in to help and soon discovers that Tamar had discovered something in the archives of the prince she was dating that may be a clue to her death. In The Trouble with a Bad Fit: ANovel of Food, Fashion, and Mystery, Simona and Stan investigate the murder of an aging fashion model. In reviewing the novel for the New York Times Book Review, Suzy Menkes noted that "Ms. Crespi has an eye for fashion detail that gives the novel a cutting edge."

Simona and her Russian partner, Dimitri, vacation in the Hamptons and investigate murder in The Trouble with a Hot Summer, described by a Publishers Weekly contributor as being "a story as lazy and easy to take as a summer afternoon."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 1994, Mary Carroll, review of The Trouble with Thin Ice, p. 809; July 1, 1997, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of The Trouble with a Hot Summer, p. 1801.

Library Journal, April 1, 1996, Rex E. Klett, review of The Trouble with a Bad Fit: A Novel of Food, Fashion, and Mystery, p. 121.

New York Times Book Review, April 21, 1996, Suzy Menkes, review of The Trouble with a Bad Fit.

Publishers Weekly, December 6, 1993, review of The Trouble with Thin Ice, p. 59; November 28, 1994, review of The Trouble with Going Home, p. 45; March 18, 1996, review of The Trouble with a Bad Fit, p. 61; June 2, 1997, review of The Trouble with a Hot Summer, p. 56.

School Library Journal, September, 1997, Pam Johnson, review of The Trouble with a Hot Summer, p. 239.